Monster House - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray

The images on this disc are so good that visitors will freak out at the sharpness. The color is done "just right" for me -- just a bit more saturated than what most people would consider "natural," which makes the images that much more compelling. The amount of detail in grassy yards, tree branches, leaves, and clothing textures is fabulous. The quality of the uncompressed 5.1-channel LPCM soundtrack is among the best available on any hi-def disc: very dynamic, and scarily so in several sequences. It’s also very intense, and probably frightening for kids under eight or so. The amount of sonic detail makes the role the sound plays just as critical as any of the characters. The sound and video conspire to produce the feeling that you are in this animated world rather than just watching it on a screen. The demo options include quieter moments as well as some aggressively frightening and intense action sequences that have a lot more impact than I’m used to seeing in other animated features.…Doug Blackburn

Casino Royale (2006) - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray

The uncompressed, 5.1-channel LPCM soundtrack accompanying this film is exciting and detailed, with superb sound that makes the musical interludes far better than on any older home-video format. The degree of transparency and clarity is thrilling, and of absolutely reference quality. There’s a decent amount of accurate deep bass too, with quite a bit of variation, not the repetitive one-note boom heard in some soundtracks. The images are superbly film-like -- not as sharp as digitally transferred computer animation, but with that romantic film quality we all know. Daylight shots are grain-free, nicely saturated, and very detailed. Night action suffers a lot less than in most film-based movies -- the increase in grain from pushing the capabilities of film is almost undetectable. Casino Royale is the kind of movie you’ll watch over and over again, and will likely pull off the shelf to demo for visitors. There are a number of excellent action sequences with heart-pounding sound, music, and visuals that will have your demo audience groaning for more when you hit Stop.…Doug Blackburn

Casanova - Touchstone Home Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray

I am a fan of Canaletto’s paintings of 18th-century Venice, and viewing this Blu-ray disc, it seemed as if all of those works had been brought to life -- every arch, every tower, and every canal is as sharp as a still photo. Throw in the opulent costumes and interiors, and even if you don’t like the movie (I do), you still have 111 minutes of glorious period eye candy. The source material is impeccable, the colors bright and true. There’s a scene during Carnevale in which Casanova and his intended love fly high over Venice in a hot-air balloon, fireworks exploding all around them -- it might take your breath away. The music on the soundtrack is drawn largely from composers of the era, among them Vivaldi, Corelli, and Handel, and is presented in uncompressed 5.1-channel LPCM sound. The music comes across as well as you’d expect from an audio-only recording, and the sound effects make good use of a 360-degree soundfield. The mix is ideal -- you can hear everything clearly, and in proper balance.…Rad Bennett

The Guardian - Touchstone Home Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray

Reference-quality audio and video are the hallmarks of this dramatic look inside the Coast Guard’s swimmer-rescue program. Colors are rich and saturated, and the sharpness is exemplary. There are plenty of moments of intense surround sound with deep, powerful bass. The clarity of the uncompressed LPCM 5.1 soundtrack far surpasses anything available on standard DVD. Many more details are audible because they’re not being masked by other sounds, as often happens in compressed soundtracks. The action sequences make great system demos. There are also some impressive extras, though the best ones are so far compatible only with PlayStation 3 game consoles. The Guardian is available only on Blu-ray and DVD, no HD DVD….Doug Blackburn

HDScape: Exotic Saltwater Aquarium - DVD International
Format: HD DVD, DVD

Shot in high definition, this program presents the choice of five different salt-water aquarium setups. In the Full Tank Views, the camera remains motionless; the only things moving are the brightly colored fish. You can also choose Close-up Tank Views and Edited Views, in which the camera zooms in and out. There are four audio selections: Natural Bubbles, Sea Space, Relaxation, and Classical (Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart). Sea Space and Relaxation are "new age" music, and though the jacket says they are Dolby Digital, my player’s readout identifies them as Dolby Digital Plus. For some reason, the Bubbles would play only using the Toshiba’s decoder through the analog outputs. Using the optical outs and my receiver’s decoder, I got only clicks. After playing with them all, I chose Full Tank View, and Natural Bubbles turned down to a realistic level. My 52" monitor became a +100-gallon tank. It looked so much like actual water that I felt I could put my hand through the screen and it would come out wet. There is depth, excellent resolution, and brilliant yet natural color. This is a combo disc -- if you don’t yet have an HD DVD player, you can play the DVD side until you do. But it’s the HD side that’s really eye-popping.…Rad Bennett

Children of Men - Universal
Format: HD DVD

This grim vision of the future has received an A+ transfer. The look of the movie is intentionally grim and gritty, mostly grays and whites, but with splashes of vivid color. Check out the detail in the interiors and the trees in the forest scenes -- it doesn’t get much better. The Dolby Digital Plus sound design is one of the most awesome on HD DVD, and the surrounds are active much of the time. During the first part of the movie, one hears radio and TV broadcasts coming from all over the place, yet the center-channel dialogue is clear. The gunfight in the illegal alien compound is one of the most impressive you’ll ever hear. Bullets ping off various pieces of metal at different pitches, and the sound is all over the place: left, right, rear, and everywhere in between. It not only fits the action on screen, it puts the viewer right in the middle of it. I was frozen in place, afraid to move. It was that real. Not a happy movie, but a very good one, with a superior transfer….Rad Bennett

Happy Feet - Warner Home Video
Format: HD DVD

Winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, this quirky little CGI story has much to recommend it. Its first two-thirds are the exciting story of Mumble, a young penguin who can’t sing but can tap-dance like crazy, as he learns to swim, outraces a tiger seal, and falls in love. The last third, while still above average, is not up to what happened before. This high-definition transfer, however, is state-of-the-art from beginning to end. The picture comes from source material that is nearly perfect, and is splendid in color and detail. Textures emerge that simply can’t be seen on the SD DVD version, which itself is quite good. There’s a choice of Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround EX. The Blu-ray edition has comparable picture quality, but its sound is only regular Dolby Digital 5.1. The TrueHD track reveals subtle sounds and is smoother than even the Dolby Digital Plus, which is excellent. If you use this disc to demo your hi-def system for your friends, it’s unlikely they’ll walk away disappointed….Rad Bennett

Æon Flux - Paramount
Format: DVD

Æon Flux is the latest animated series to make it to the big screen. Charlize Theron stars as cult heroine Æon, a top operative in the rebellion resistance 400 years in the future. After her sister is killed, Æon is given the ultimate mission: She must assassinate the leader of the government responsible for the crime. Along the way, Æon discovers certain truths that lead her to reexamine her own reality. The DVD is a visual knockout, and not only because of Theron -- the video transfer is flawless. When Æon moves among shadows, the shadows have crisp texture and excellent shading. In the darker scenes, the textures of her hair and facial features are detailed and clear. From beginning to end, Æon Flux displays a consistent level of visual brilliance. The soundtrack is also topnotch: dynamic and enveloping, yet quiet and precise when required. This reference-grade DVD is perfect demo material for your home theater….Randall Smith

Domino -- New Line Home Video
Format: DVD

Domino is a fictional story based on the actual life of a fashion model turned bounty hunter. Domino Harvey is the daughter of Lawrence Harvey, star of The Manchurian Candidate and many other films. She is uninspired by her privileged Beverly Hills life and is dying for more excitement. After reading an ad in the paper, Domino decides to attend a seminar to become a bounty hunter.

Sound a bit eccentric? The film, directed by Tony Scott, follows suit. Scott’s visual style here mirrors much of the imagery of his last film, Man on Fire. The hyperkinetic action is treated with a hyperactive array of colors. Every second of this DVD provides crisp and clear video with no artifacts. The editing is very fast, the scenes shot from different perspectives and with different exposures to create a manic effect. Bottom line: If you want to test the video quality of your home theater, pop this DVD in and see if your new TV or projector can keep up.

Sound-wise, the film is nonstop effects, with a soundtrack as unpredictable as Domino herself. Expect sounds from every direction -- whether it’s a gun fired from behind or the music accompanying an intense scene, the audio surrounds you and rivets you to the screen, creating the kind of tension you experience when you see an accident coming. Rest up before you watch this DVD -- Domino is an assault on the senses….Randall Smith

Walk the Line -- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon bring Johnny and June Carter Cash to life in this perceptive and entertaining biopic. Witherspoon won a well-deserved Oscar for her effort, but the entire cast is magnificent. So is the photography, which captures the 1950s and ’60s with unerring accuracy. The images on this DVD are some of the best I’ve seen recently. The range of colors is astounding, as is the detail -- the outdoor and street scenes seem to freeze an era in position, and the close-ups in the concert scenes are intimate and exciting. The sound is also first-class. The music is crisp and clean, with wide dynamic and frequency ranges and exceptionally solid bass lines. The surround channels are used to great effect in the crowd scenes -- the viewer is put right into them. The environmental sounds, too, are effective, such as the rain in one climactic scene. In short, the video and audio on this DVD are so impressive that, even if this were not a great movie, it would look and sound like one….Rad Bennett

Toy Story 2: 2-Disc Special Edition -- Universal
Format: DVD

This is one of those rare instances in which a sequel is better than the original film. We all came to love Woody and Buzz and the other toys in the first Pixar animated feature. Now, when Woody is kidnapped, our friends are plunged into a new adventure, joined by some fascinating new characters who, by the end of the film, have become as friendly and lovable as the originals. The video for this new edition, stickered on many copies as Woody’s Roundup Edition, was prepared from the original Pixar digital elements, using a higher DVD bit rate. The sound, too, has been remastered, this time into Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX and DTS-ES. The result is one of the best-looking, best-sounding animated films on DVD -- perhaps the best. The picture is so sharp that you can appreciate all the subtle touches Pixar has developed for its CGI features, such as the movement of hair and the rustling of leaves. The sound is open, free, and very specific as to placements of individual sounds. The back surround channel helps a lot in this regard. With this new edition pushing the envelope of the current state of the DVD art, Pixar seems poised to make Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase come true: "To infinity . . . and beyond!"...Rad Bennett

Serenity -- Universal
Format: DVD

You gotta love it. When the network canceled his science-fiction series, Firefly, Josh Whedon just continued the story on the big screen in this action-filled film. Whedon should have been treated with more respect by TV execs, not only because he created the popular series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, but also because he can write one hell of a good sci-fi scenario. Serenity has arrived on DVD in a package worthy of its contents. The film’s visual design is busy: During space battles, it seems there are as many ships as the Washington, DC Beltway has automobiles at rush hour. Urban scenes on a terra-formed planet bristle with billboard details à la Blade Runner, and there are myriad nuts and bolts aboard the Serenity herself. All of these details can be clearly perceived in this excellent 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. But as good as the picture is, it’s the sound that you’ll want to write home about. The design is total 360 degrees, and the surround channels are hyperactive. When there’s a battle, you’ll feel you’re in the middle of it. Yet with all the sound effects flying around, the dialogue remains clear and the music is clean and crisp -- a perfect sound mix for this sort of film, and far better than that for Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith. The extras include deleted scenes, production featurettes, and an enlightened commentary by Whedon. I enjoyed Serenity so much that I checked out the complete Firefly series (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) and found its video and audio quality first-rate as well….Rad Bennett

Heaven Can Wait (1943) -- The Criterion Collection
Format: DVD

Not to be confused with the Warren Beatty remake of 1978, Ernst Lubitsch’s classic fantasy-comedy plays in flashback as the recently deceased hero, Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche), tells his romantic life story in order to pass through the gates of Hell. Much of the film plays as screwball comedy, as we watch Van Cleve and his wife (the beautiful Gene Tierney) spar and make up. The setting is the early 20th century, when the automobile was displacing the horse and buggy. The home of the upper-crust Van Cleves is decorated with the richest carpets, opulent wallpaper, cushy stuffed chairs, and intricate trim. The clothing is just as detailed, with widely varying textures. The colors are bright but never garish, and this Criterion transfer of the Technicolor original is so clean that each of these elements can be clearly seen. The mono soundtrack is surprisingly strong due to Criterion’s 24-bit remastering of a magnetic Dolby A master. This release is another instance of a great film preserved and made palatable for generations far removed from its original audience. The preservation of classic cinema has come a long way from the time when older films were considered mere fodder for late-night television, and cut to ribbons to allow commercial breaks. If you haven’t tried one of those classics lately, Heaven Can Wait might be an excellent place to begin….Rad Bennett

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Touchstone Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

You think you have had a bad day? When Arthur Dent wakes up one morning, he finds that workers are about to demolish his house to make way for an Intergalactic Highway. What’s more, his best friend turns out to be from another planet and informs him that the Earth is ending in 12 minutes. It is then that he finds out about The Hitchhiker’s Guide and sets off on a wild journey through space and time. The wacky whimsy of Douglas Adams’ novel loses a bit when manifested outside the theater of the mind, but this movie does as good a job as possible of presenting it onscreen. The images are eye-popping and the DVD transfer is five-star. Near the end, a backup Earth is discovered, and the tour of the construction site is so full of intimate detail that you’ll have to watch it several times to get it all. At the climax the new planet is given life, and the viewer is shown a succession of shots of wildlife and urban living. These shots really looked as if they’d been ripped from the pages of National Geographic. The sound is no less successful, with wide dynamic and frequency ranges and a surround design that places the viewer in the action....Rad Bennett

Sin City -- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

This remarkable movie looks like a live film noir comic book -- a living, breathing version of Frank Miller’s popular illustrated graphic novel. The effect was achieved by filming the actors in front of a blue screen, the rest of the scene being composited in afterward. The performances are excellent, the style dramatic; my only complaint about the film is its length, which seemed a little ponderous. The razor-sharp transfer crackles with energy, the video showing every crack and cranny of each actor’s face. It’s perfectly clear from beginning to end -- quite an accomplishment, given the overall darkness of the production design. The color accents have just the right amount of saturation to be bold without bleeding. The surround sound is very effective, and the front soundstage is exceptionally transparent and clear. There is only one featurette, so you might want to wait for the two-disc version, promised for later in the year. It’s a good guess that that one will have a five-star video transfer, too....Rad Bennett

Bad Education -- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

It’s always a joy to watch a movie by Pedro Almodóvar. His enthusiasm for making films shines through, their every scene imbued with energy and forward motion. His films never seem like anything but movies -- a master of the format, he knows exactly how to use the camera. Bad Education plumbs the depths of human experience with a film inside a screenplay inside a film. A gay movie director relives his past experiences with a boy he once loved when he himself was a boy, through a script brought to him by that boy’s brother. The images are exceptional. The sets and costumes are in bright, primary colors that brilliantly offset each other. The skin tones are rich and soft, yet every face is sharply delineated, each worry line as clear as can be. The sound is singularly transparent and clean. You might think at times that the surround channels have disappeared -- and then they are there, at exactly the right time. Like a great painter, Almodóvar has used sight and sound as his brushes and paints to once more create a masterpiece. Until we get hi-def DVDs, it doesn’t get better than this….Rad Bennett

Prime Cut -- Paramount
Format: DVD

I’m always thrilled to see an older release looking like new -- and why shouldn’t it? Video techniques have finally caught up to those long employed by filmmakers, and now great entertainments of the past can look as if they were made yesterday. Prime Cut is a case in point. This 1972 film, starring Lee Marvin as a cleanup man sent from Chicago by the mob to clean up Mary Ann’s Meat Packing in Kansas City, is a case in point. It’s wonderful action-adventure trash, and this transfer makes it look like a recent movie. One of the big chase scenes takes place in a wheat field, and you can almost feel the texture of the wheat tassels as they blow in the wind. Another long sequence takes place at a county fair, where bright colors and razor-sharp focus create a tangible feeling of being on location with the actors. The final shoot-out occurs in vast fields of sunflowers and presents many memorable images. The mono sound has been cleaned up and successfully transferred to Dolby Digital 5.1. What it lacks in directional placement it makes up for in an illuminating sense of space and clarity….Rad Bennett

Stage Beauty -- Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

This magnificently mounted film is based on the play Compleat Female Stage Beauty, first performed in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, 20 miles from where I live. I share that information to get back at those who think all West Virginians are ignorant. Play and film tell the story of Ned Kynaston, the last great male actor to play women’s roles onstage in 17th-century England, when it was illegal for women to do so. The movie examines a pivotal point in his life, when the King, at the urging of his mistress, decided to reverse this law. Women take to the stage and Ned is out of work.

The sumptuous sets and costumes are accurately displayed in a smooth, filmlike transfer. But it was the sound that knocked me over. George Fenton composed the score, which should have been nominated for an Oscar. Never before had I heard such gorgeous orchestral sound from a film soundtrack. The orchestra is spread across a wide soundstage of exceptionally natural depth -- none of that flat, everything-in-your-face sound that one expects at the cinema. The orchestral sound is spacious and transparent, yet has punch when needed. The soundtrack also does well by dialogue and sound effects, and the surrounds are on at all times, not for the music but for ambient sounds. This approach adds presence to every scene and made me feel a part of the action. You don’t want to miss this four-star movie with close to five-star sound….Rad Bennett

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story -- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

This much-better-than-average contemporary comedy casts Ben Stiller as a pint-sized villain you love to hate. Stiller, owner of a successful gym, is intent on driving a smaller, more honestly run competitor out of business. The feud culminates in a thrilling and very funny dodgeball tournament. The colors in this transfer are vibrant, at times ’70s-hot. The detail is as close to HDTV as the current DVD format will allow. Plaids, tiles, window blinds, strands of hair, and the flashing signs of Las Vegas all stand out with razor-sharp definition. The surround sound is exciting and atmospheric, especially during the dodgeball scenes, when the crowd sound envelops the viewer to make him or her feel part of the onscreen action. The source music is clean and clear, with well-focused bass. It’s seldom these days that a comedy this good hits the screen. It’s even rarer that it receives such good video and audio transfers....Rad Bennett

Underworld: Unrated Extended Cut -- Columbia TriStar
Format: DVD

This movie is set in a bleak future in which vampires fight werewolves using high-technology weapons, in order to gain control of the world beneath the teeming city streets: the Underworld. In this case of style over substance, the style is incredibly revealed in a DVD transfer high in detail and definition. All of the movie’s action takes place in dimly lighted subways and sewers, with an overall look of blue and white. The many complex fights are absolutely clear because there are no murky shadows in this transfer -- even the dark has definition, not to mention hair, steely sharp weapons, and rain and water (it seems to rain all the time in this movie). The sound is also of demonstration caliber. The surrounds are involving, and fully support the onscreen action. Moreover, the frequency range is astounding, with bass that will test your room for stray resonances. I had a few, and they had to be nailed down (literally, in one case) before I could watch the rest of the film. This two-star film has received a five-star transfer that makes it look better than it is….Rad Bennett